Optical devices, such as waveguides, lasers, light emitting diodes (LEDs), modulators, photodetectors, etc., often utilize electrodes to conduct a current through the optical device. For example, a laser may have two electrodes on either side of an active region to facilitate current flow through the active region of the laser to cause the laser to emit light. The active region of an optical device is a general term used to refer to an area through which a wavelength of light passes or areas where light and optical fields are generated or emitted. Active regions often include quantum wells and other gain mediums.
One drawback of conventional electrodes used in optical devices is that they are lossy. That is, conventional metallic electrodes allow eddy currents to be generated, which results in energy loss due to heat. To compensate for this loss, spacer layers, which are also known as cladding layers, are used in optical devices to physically move the electrodes away from active regions of optical devices. This minimizes the contact between electrodes and the optical field generated in the active regions of optical devices and, thus, helps reduce the formation of eddy currents.
However, adding spacer layers increases the costs and complexity of optical devices. Because the optical devices are more complex and require additional layers, they are more expensive, difficult, and time-consuming to manufacture. Moreover, the movement of the electrodes away from active regions where optical fields are generated reduces the efficiency of optical devices, because a current must flow through additional layers to be conducted by the electrodes.